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#Unity Protest 4th March - Accounts from those there

Thought we'd try something different. There is the other Unity Protest thread running for general chit chat

Think it would be great if we had one thread that was simply the accounts of those there. No chit chat posts, can be 50 words or a thousand. No replies from anyone else, just accounts from those there.

Comments

Day started in Maidstone, where I'd travelled down to from Norfolk the night before. Good chance to check in on my old dad.... the man who introduced me to Charlton aged 9, in 1986.

Felt good to be up at 5.30. Strong. Buzzing. On the hunt from breakfast from 6 o clock. Pulling into Ebbsfleet just after 7 and seeing a flash of black and white scarves outside the station. Parking up and wanting to rush to be with the Charlton tribe.

Hit the bus. Lovely people everywhere. Given a breakfast roll on the fund. Still only 7.30... everybody chilled and easing into the day.

Just before we got to the ferry though, we had a singsong and the media got their cameras started... brains clicked into gear as people began to think smart and talk smarter

Got to the ferry... people starting to chat. Saw a few more black and white scarves mooching around the ferry terminal....

Having sat on the bus and only seen the people around us, we were then unleashed onto the ferry. Roaming around for an explore, there were charlton bods at every turn. Each with a knowing nod if you wanted.

Up on deck, some of us posed for the media in front of the white cliffs, did interviews and milked the moment with selfies. More smiles. More shared moments with strangers.

This was Charlton... out in force and doing what we do best....

Soon we were on Belgian shores and speeding along the motorway.... am a keen traveller and have been around, but I didn't know or really even care which port we'd hit and what road we were on....

For once, the destination WAS the point

Forrest Gump was a welcome chilled distraction for a bit.... then the pre match came on from Northampton (ok ok... it was my bright idea to hold my phone up to the mic for an improvised connection to other supporters up in Northampton....and I'm glad I did.... as I nearly bottled it).

When we heard them sing... it felt tribal again. Disconnected members connecting accross vast distance.

Terry and stubley were slick on the commentary.... but when somebody tipped the elder member of the duo off that they were being relayed live to the day coach and he mentioned what an honour it was, a tingle went down the spine.....his mention of this being a historic day and one where supporters would remember where they were helped build the riding atmosphere on the bus

By the time we had arrived and been shepherded through the streets to the rendezvous bar at Wim's it's fair to say that the growing group we're excited. Our bus load had locked in with another group. Tribal again. United. Growing.

Then the bar.... timing impeccable... in we went and the band cranked us.... spot on... perfect...

I don't know if they were idling and waiting for the hoarded to arrive, or what.... but to be greeted after such a long journey by such welcoming sounds (and a bite to eat) was spot on for us arrivers

By the time the beer was flowing into the system, the music was REALLY kicking in. I rarely dance. Even with mates. But here I was dancing with Charlton strangers. It helped that the 2 percent play mostly reggae and ska to my taste (btw, boys.... "I am the one in 10" really needs to become "we are the 2%")

The music and the beer got me pumped up. The communal chanting of "We want Roland out" got the crowd into a veritable frenzy

The rat mask was funny

And then we were ready to unleash ourselves onto the streets

We'd been building all day..... sleepy bus ride... the excited ferry... to anticipatory commentary on the bus... to beers and tunes and chanting loud

Herded through quiet streets in the rain. Got nowhere near duchatelet and didn't feel most there tried to interact with anyone other than other Charlton fans. Thoroughly well organised as an outing but as for impact, if the objective was to embarrass him, or to form unity with St Truiden fans, I didn't feel we were collectively effective this time.

I was stopped by a couple of STVV fans on the way back to the station after the protest. They had joined the protest and are very anti RD. In fact they were season ticket holders for some years but since RD took over he has ripped the soul from their club (sounds familiar eh!). They no longer attend matches or spend money on the club but are still in love with STVV and still travel home matches to demonstrate against RD but wont spend any money there to line RD's pockets but go onto to a nearby bar. They only attend away matches to watch their team.....all this sounds familiar? They even said that its not down to winning matches as they have always been average.

What was very special is they went on to say that they were taken aback by not only the numbers that travelled over from London but the sheer range of ages from youngsters to the oldies plus many females. They said Charlton must be a real community club which is something they had pre-RD.

They thanked me and we all wished each other the best of luck in ridding this curse and walked off with the anti RD placards. I continued on towards the station with a sudden sadness for the STVV fans. I dont think STVV have the numbers that will come together to fight against RD and he will deny their families from enjoying a real community based football club.

I felt proud of being on this protest march. I felt proud of our community spirit and our family of supporters. I felt proud that we made the effort to do something to ensure that our soul is not completely destroyed by these people that dont understand what a football club means. And this has truely hardened my resolve to continue the fight against this awful regime. Let's hope that these STVV fans get that success too.

And finally, safe journey home y'all and many thanks to all those that pulled this together....awesome!

For the early part of my life I didn't even dream of Charlton being in Europe. And then the Premier League days came. I dreamed of Charlton drawing Sparta Prague and hosting a huge party of my tribe. Because the thing about playing in Europe for most clubs is not so much the result, but just being there. Going as a tribe to a new country, getting to know fellow tribe members and locals.

And so today in the worst possible circumstances my dream came true. And today we were brilliant, as we have been so many times before. I still do not even know exactly who has been at the heart of this operation but you have done a fantastic job. Despite various rumours, the police - low key and courteous - allowed us to march to the very gates of Stayen. You could see that this had been carefully negotiated, and was being reviewed step by step. Stop and think about how some of our fans have built such a relationship with the police in a provincial town in Belgium where Roland Duchatelet calls the shots. And think about how furious he will be that these police, whom he thought he had in his pocket, will have reminded him that Belgium is a democracy, these people have a right to protest, and the police have no reason to think we will be a problem. That, above all, was our triumph today, and whoever have worked so hard to achieve that, well you are the real legends.

Late on with @TCE , @ThreadKiller , and @oohaahmortimer ( who will not remember this, I suspect) we discussed whether RD has an ego. I think he does. When you arrive at Mordor, sorry, Stayen, a big digi screen displays the many delights it has to offer customers. It includes the dancing , and there is RD , dancing and being the life and soul of the party, followed - rather unsettlingly - by shots of attractive young ladies enjoying the party. Say what you like about Richard Murray but most rival fans would have struggled to put a face to his name. In S-T Roland's face is in your face.

It' s a bit early to evaluate what this has achieved , but I am very sure we whacked his ego pretty hard today. And unlike at Standard he cannot go whining to the media about how he has been threatened, because once again we displayed that precious commodity that has marked us Charlton fans out over many years, no matter who owned us. That commodity which many other clubs' fans freely bestow upon us.

So very tired, I'm an old man these days.While my love for my football club is still simmering on a low heat, my love and admiration for the fans of this great club will stay with me forever. just want to sleep now, night

Make no mistake, we were noticed and it will be news there. I interacted with a few Belgians on the way- gave a few mugs away to them and some leaflets. Going back into the town in a few hours before we come home and will try to speak to some locals about it. March was respectful to the town and Belgium. I liked the rendition of Chrissy Powell when we got to the stadium.

Bits were dropping off Roland the nearer we got to the stadium. Was great to watch!

I'm in bits , Belgian beer is far too strong and I'm far too weak a drinker .Good day and plenty of banter along the way .These things don't just happen and many thanks to the president , se7to sg3 , cafc4life and others who were involved with organising it.Not as many ST fans as I'd hoped but a decent Charlton turn out .St Truiden the town , everyone was helpful and a nice place for a beer or ten .

Great day yesterday, still buzzing. Brilliant organisation and I know there were long negotiations with local authorities but on the day once the Police realised it was good natured and we were not there to cause trouble they relaxed their stipulations and we even got a lot closer to the stadium than originally planned. The locals were very much on our side and wished us all the best. I'm sure next time we go the goodwill we created this time will be invaluable. To the organisers, a big thankyou, to everyone who went, you are legends. Never been prouder to be a Charlton fan. Roland Out !!

In terms of interaction my experience was based on being in a party of three people in a car.

After arrival, when walking to the main square, after meeting and greeting a German Addick we had loads of looks and friendly nods of recognition and acknowledgement. We had people inside the glass windows of shops coming to tap on the window and wave.

A couple stopped us, no mutual language, I said 'STVV fans?', they nodded and not knowing what to say I said 'Roland Duchatelet?' and did a thumbs up then a thumbs down gesture. They both immediately did a thumbs down, the lady very vigorously she stooped and nearly hammered her thumb into the pavement.Another older man stopped us, and in his hesitant English said 'make him go down', which he repeated with sincere nods and a steady gaze.

These and other casual interactions were relatively frequent and this was to three older blokes without much to identify us strolling in the town, before the protests were any where near starting. Not one local person sneered, gave us the cold shoulder or deliberately avoided us.

When at the venue my banner was photographed by a Flemish print journalist, and I was interviewed for a decent length of time asking me my age, the cost of coming on the protest, the meaning of my banner, tons of stuff.

When marching people were in loads of doorways and waving from windows, I was interviewed on camera by the French Language national news bloke, many local people were taking pictures and even mobile phone filming us.

There seemed to be loads of journalists covering the march, many of us were interviewed at random (not the 'core actors'), the march held up traffic, no tooting and aggression from any motorists, and the very decent local police must have had the easiest gig ever.

Then there was the local fans who were mostly grouped near where I was marching at the rear of the march, who at the very least joined with us. They were committed and enthusiastic and initiated songs with us. At the end of the march, as early arrivers turned up for their football they threaded through our throng and seemed to be universally approving of our presence.

I didn't witness one iota of trouble or unpleasantness from any Charlton fan whatsoever, and folk were eager to be smiley and friendly in there demeanour towards the very decent local people. If there have been any arrests or whatever I will be amazed.

When making our way back to the car we even had a concerned local saying we were going the wrong way, and that maybe we were too late for the march.

What I have written here is the experience of one individual. If that was replicated 250 times then plenty of local people were aware of us there, and I have no doubt that Roland would have been fully aware of the group of protestors, we were expressing ourselves whether it makes any difference or not.

Thanks to everyone who organised this. Also thanks to the Belgian police who were sensible, helpful and happy to engage with the fans - everything Charlton's owner isn't.

I hope the protest has pushed Duchatelet a bit further into a corner and he will look to be rid of his aggravating English peasants soon. Hopefully, St Truiden fans will take it all on board and start to make Duchatelet's life difficult every single day of the week, rather than just on the occasions that Charlton turn up.

I was on the day coach from SE7. Very impressed how everything ran on time, and appreciated the bonus sausage sandwich!

It was quite subdued on the coach on the way out, but with the early start that was to be expected. It was good to have the camera crews on our coach and ferry, it really made it feel like this was a "proper" thing we were doing. The journalist from ITV said to me "I was nervous about coming here, I was worried I would be on a coach of people sharpening knives [said tongue in cheek] , but actually you are just ordinary fans aren't you?"

Off at Dunkirk... driving... driving.... Forrest Gump for some reason... driving..... driving....

A little bit of frustration on my part as we got to Sint Truiden as we seemed to skirt round the edge of the town for sometime, but we arrived safely, even if we nearly did get the coach stuck in a very narrow street just meters from the car park!

Bit of a free for all at the buffet and gig, I wished I could have been there a bit earlier but I was certainly grateful for the food and the music was fun; it was really important to pick the mood up for some of us as it was a bit of a slog through the flat countryside. The police had decided that ticket or not to the buffet, they wanted all fans in the same place which was fair enough, that would happen in London for sure for any protest march. It did mean that venue got rather busy.

As soon as everyone gathered in the courtyard the songs started and everyone brought lots of friendly energy to the event; great work by all the people who made the placards and banners by the way! The town is a nice, sleepy little place but plenty of thumbs up from the locals; I'm not sure if they knew what was going on with a bunch of crazy English people marching through their town! The strong Belgium beer must have gone to my head a bit because I had no inhibitions in starting a song or two.

It got a bit weird when we were marching through a car park, and simultaneously being told to speed up and slow down at one point! It felt back on track when we reached their ground though and we had an audience again. There was time for a cheeky beer in the strangest little bar playing eurotrash techno & football song mix afterwards too.

Managed to get an earlier eurostar home which was a result!

It was very well organised and so much local and international media were present, it was exactly what was needed. The STVV fans were small in number but very welcoming and I wish them all well too.

I just wanted to say thank you for everyone who attended yesterday - very proud to be a Charlton fan.

A couple of anecdotes about yesterday...no doubt there will be lots more that will emerge during the day...

ST Police were brilliant, prepared to listen and negotiate, and stayed in the background generally.I seemed to have 2 plain clothes guys 'stalk' me the whole day- however, they did come and introduce themselves at the beginning of the day - but , surprisingly, after the match , both of them came up to me with beers in hand in the bar concourse, and we had a good chat almost as mates. They were very complimentary to us as a group of fans, saying they had NO problems, certainly NO arrests, it was a 'pleasure' to police , and that this has shown them and the Mayor that should we do this again in Sint Truiden then they will likely take a more relaxed view - they also wished us good luck in trying to get rid of Duchatelet.

We seemed to have so much media coverage - there were interviews,cameras,photographers everywhere. certainly, Roly the Effigy seemed to be the most popular for the media there - and magnificent he was - for that @foresthillred , who spent so many long hours working on it , take a bow, son.Also, @GermanAddick who helped with the construction. Even, at one stage, when we had to make running repairs after his leg had fallen off, and his ear had come loose, one fan decided to drop his trousers and stick it in Rolys face - yes, you know who you are

It would appear that I was sitting across the aisle, 2 rows behind Siv.

I'll try and add some different aspects.

I was on the day return coach, which meant getting up at 4.45am and getting to bed at 2am Sunday.

It was a very tiring day.

There were ITV & BBC reporters & cameramen on our coach and what they "shot" should be shown on Monday on the local news.

On the ferry on the way out Bolloxbolder & I gave an interview to the 4-4-2 reporter & his photographer, for what I think lasted about an hour. It certainly lasted a good 2 pints & we were drinking slowly. I think I may just about have got our point across My main point was that if you have an owner that does not care about winning games, then everything that is wrong, can basically be linked back to this, whether it's incompetent CEO's, coaches, inadequate playing squad etc etc. He said we should get a 4 page spread in the edition which is due out at the start of April.

France into Belgium is a flat as Essex, just one flat straight long motorway.

St Truiden (what I saw of it), is a boring, sleepy little town. You had to play spot the person. There were very few people around, but the few we saw were all very friendly. It is not at all like South East London. It's more like a village in Kent & makes the likes of Sidcup seem buzzing.

It's the sleepy St Truiden, which makes me understand better why RD has no understanding of football supporter passion and wanting relative success for your team. It would be akin to living in Exeter or Rochdale. It's no wonder all the old fool wants to do is dance. St Truiden is passionless, even the fans in the bar where the march ended, just stood motionless observing. No cheering, booing, singing, no anything. WEIRD.

It's little wonder KM thinks we're weird for having passion.

I thought there were maybe 250 on the protest march, but someone said the police estimated 300. I was slightly disappointed, that there appeared to be few STVV fans joining the march. I would have guessed that it could have been as few as 10, but I don't recognise all our fans and scarves were exchanged, so there could have been more. I certainly only heard a few foreign accents.

We got back earlier than we thought, so the ferry out & the shuttle back, choo choo.

Finally, to anyone that thinks this was a big jolly etc (and this is more relevant outside of CL), I can assure you that everyone there, was there out of a sense of duty, to try to help save our great club, before it's too late and no one was there to enjoy themselves as such. It was a job well done and thank-you to everyone who made this possible. Nice to see so many Lifers out there.

It's a fair point about St Truiden's sleepy backwater atmosphere. Saturday afternoon here felt like Sunday morning anywhere else. It may go some way to explaining the supine attitude of STVV fans toward Duchatelet's ownership. The STVV fans who turned up to march were the younger 'ultra' looking guys. The locals seemed to agree with us that Duchatelet is a dick, accepted our leaflets and wished us luck but nobody there is going to rock the boat. I hope I'm wrong but I'm not holding my breath.

I got chatting to the fantastic el-pietro on the march, and for some reason he was dying for a widdle , near the end he scuttled off into a close by quiet bushy area, and emerged smiling somewhat a few moments later.The whole area smelt of vinegar after that mind.

Norfolk Siv describes it very well, I think we had a good chat on the ferry. I originally booked up to add numbers, since it was very important to give the lie to Roland's 20 core actors claim, and the turnout was as good as I could have hoped for. Congratulations to the organisers including the St Truiden fans, and if you can be bothered doing it all again count me in. There was a great cross-section there. I was nearly 60 years older than the young man next to me on the coach! I liked the fact that there were one or two subtle changes to the lyrics to avoid obscenities, also the fact that Red Red Robin got a spontaneous airing. Some of the more lewd lyrics haven't helped the past protests IMO. And I'm glad Covered End stressed the point about having a non-competitive owner. He really is unique.

Was on the day trip coach with some who have posted above. Managed to work out who a few of them are now.....

Had are nice relaxed 7am start met the coach are Folkestone and was greeted by a sausage sandwich which was one of the highlights of my day!

Short first leg to get to the ferry which included some rather forced chanting for the camera (was a bit early for that to be honest). On the ferry there was some more singing for the camera as we pulled out of Dover. Settled down for a nice full English and spent most of the way chatting with Chris and Gordon from the BBC. Pretty informal chat to make sure they had all the background to the protests, much better than the rather formal and IMO forced interview approach by Amy of ITV.

Back on the coach for the long stretch into Belgium. Planned and did the reading for my essay that's due tomorrow and I should be writing now, with forest Gump going on in the background!

Listened to the Charlton live commentary by Tel and Greg as we approached St Truiden. Big cheer went up as Terry mentioned that we were listening!

Arrived and we're greeted by some policemen but they were soon sorted out by Heather.

Buffet was excellent and another highlight! Belgian beer and the 2% gig excellent!

The march was loud proud and passionate I'm slightly hoarse this morning! Time for a quick beer in a bowling alley before we jumped back on the coach home! Police escort all the way to the motorway was pretty interesting!

...We seemed to have so much media coverage - there were interviews,cameras,photographers everywhere. certainly, Roly the Effigy seemed to be the most popular for the media there - and magnificent he was - for that @foresthillred , who spent so many long hours working on it , take a bow, son.Also, @GermanAddick who helped with the construction. Even, at one stage, when we had to make running repairs after his leg had fallen off, and his ear had come loose, one fan decided to drop his trousers and stick it in Rolys face - yes, you know who you are

The 2% were magnificent, but my kind of music. Thanks to the organisers who made a massive effort to co-ordinate things. Nice to wave at locals viewing from their balconies. Roland, your neighbours know you are unpopular, if not why. Disappointing chat with local STTV fans in pub post match, didn't have any animosity to their owner. Good to hear Duchatalet is rattled and might sell.

I've always sworn off football coaches. But couldn't not do this, even with the 6am start from Charlton (at least it was only 10 minutes' walk to the coach for me). There must be a few away games that are further away, but none are as much of an adventure as this one, and as much of a pleasure with the lovely day trip crowd. On the ferry to Dunkirk, you could see black and white scarves everywhere - it was as if we'd commandeered the whole ship.

I'd echo what others said about how visiting Sint-Truiden gives you a better perspective on Roland Duchâtelet's mindset. I thought I had a handle on because I stayed in Liège a few years back, and hopped over the border to visit Maastricht, and found both places very cosmopolitan and lively, so expected to find a little bit of that.

But Sint-Truiden is really quiet - almost like visiting a Spanish town during siesta. I liked what I saw and would like to come back for a proper visit. (It was so quiet, I never got to buy any beer to take home as a souvenir!) But it's easy to see how a man with a half-billion euro fortune can reach a dominant position in a town like that.

The 2 Percent gig was great - they've certainly come on as a band. Wim's bar looked after us brilliantly - not sure they were expecting as big a crowd - and even though they had this odd token system, were fine when they ran out of Jupiler and gave us even stronger beer instead. Even enjoyed the funny bowling alley-cum-bar/restaurant we nipped into before the coach back, they were great in there.

I'd echo others' appreciation for the low-key policing (bicycle outriders!) of the march and things seemed to relax when they realised we weren't masked ultras with threats but normal people with a point to make. I thought the confetti was a good touch. Couldn't help feeling we were being routed away from civilisation a bit, particularly when we ended up in the station car park (!), but felt better when we were allowed up to the stadium/Kanarie bar.

I understand @swords_alive's point about it feeling a bit small - that's why we spread ourselves out a bit. And being on a protest about anything can feel a bit like that because you expect it to be all fire and fury when so it's often just a trudge through streets and shouting a bit, and then it ends and you think "what now?". But the coverage looks fantastic, and it will resonate around the town and the region, and cause more fingers to be pointed at Duchâtelet. I do wonder how Katrien Meire's parents felt, knowing their daughter was partly the cause of this demonstration that had stopped the traffic.

The watching locals gave us lots of smiles and waves and nods and seemed perfectly happy to see others stick one on Duchâtelet. I expected more STVV fans; perhaps they're more resigned to him since he and his demands loom over the town so much. Maybe we've given them the confidence to be more vocal and to give him more irritation closer to home. (edit: maybe them chanting in English, and trying to fit in with our chants, might have lessened their impact; I was expecting some Flemish invective!)

Getting 250 people to make a cross-continent journey at a month's notice to protest about a football club is a fantastic achievement. I'm proud to be have been part of it, and hope the next time I visit Sint-Truiden, it'll be to reminisce, and to celebrate Duchâtelet being chased out of not just Charlton, but STVV and football more generally. And to buy Dom, Heather and the coach drivers the drinks they so richly deserve for getting us there in one piece and home again in super-quick time.